The Uttar Pradesh Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) claimed to have arrested an alleged Hizbul Mujahideen operative from Chakeri police station area of Kanpur on Thursday.

A native of Nagaon district of Assam, Qamar-uz-Zaman aka Dr Huraira aka Kamruddin (37) had, in April this year posted a photograph of himself holding an AK-47 on social media. The photo went viral attracting the attention of security agencies.

DGP O P Singh informed mediapersons that Kamruddin was arrested with the help of Kanpur police at around 5 am.

“What we have found so far during his questioning is that he was planning to execute an attack during Ganesh Chaturthi. We are yet to discover his exact plan and targets. We have also come to know that in April 2017, he came in contact with a person named Osama in Kashmir and joined Hizbul Mujahideen. He was trained in the forests near the mountains of Kishtwar area in Kashmir,” DGP said.

“The ATS was tracking this person for the last 10 days with support of the NIA. He had changed his name on social media and was posting content as Dr Huraira. We were trying to locate him since then,” DGP said.